After Ukrainian drone strike on Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, controlled by Russia, eight workers were injured. At the same time, much of a nearby town was left without power and water, according to Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom.
In a statement on the Telegram platform, the station’s management said eight workers were injured when three Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacked a substation. All of them required medical attention.
Reuters has not been able to independently confirm what happened. There is currently no comment from the Ukrainian side.
The substation is located approximately 4 kilometers from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
The city of Enerhodar is without electricity and water
Eduard Senovoz, the Russian-appointed mayor of the city of Enerhodar, where the station workers live, said the attack had cut water and electricity to much of the city.
This was the third such attack in two weeks, Senovoz added.
Alexei Likhachev, Rosatom’s director general, said it was the first time that nuclear power plant workers had been deliberately targeted. Speaking to Russian television channels, he called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate what happened. “IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has repeatedly stated that the activities of nuclear cities, people’s lives and especially the lives of nuclear power plant workers are ‘sacred’ for nuclear safety. Today they have been flagrantly violated,” Likhachev said.
Grossi: Attacks on Zaporizhia must stop
Drone attacks on the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine must stop, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said, after Russian management at the plant reported injuries to workers at its facilities.
“ZNPP today informed the IAEA of several drone attacks near the station, which injured workers at the Enerhodar power substation and started forest fires near ZNPP’s outdoor substation,” the IAEA said in a post on Platform X. Such attacks threaten nuclear safety and human life, it added.
Sources: AMPE, AFP, Reuters